Can carton with curved chime engaging means



Nov. 28, 1961 F. A. cHlDsEY, JR 3,010,573

CAN CARTON WITH CURVED CHIME ENGAGING MEANS Filed Jan. 3l, 1961 l/4 2)4 r/2 Nw \V/Gw VW y l 26- Sli-2 4 from/EX United States Patent O 3,010,573 CAN CARTGN WITH CURVED CHIME ENGAGING MEANS Francis A. Chidsey, Jr., Wayne, Pa., assignor to Container Corporation of America, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Delaware Filed Jan. 31, 1961, Ser. No. 86,150 1 Claim. (Cl. 206-65) This invention relates to cartons and more particularly to collapsible open ended tubular cartons formed of paperboard and adapted tto hold a plurality of chimed cans.

The invention comprehends an improvement over the carton disclosed in United States Letters Patent Number 2,963,148, issued December 6, 1960, to Raymond A. Cote.

Cartons of the type disclosed in the aforementioned patent have several advantages over prior art cartons, the primary advantage being the elimination of a full center partition between the separate rows of cans so as to re duce, by approximately twenty percent, the amount of board needed to produce each carton.

In utilizing chime engaging flanges or strips to maintain the cans in proper position, however, it is essential that there be maximum contact between the flanges and the chimes of the adjacent cans.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide in a tubular open ended partitionless carton, a means for maintaining the cans carried by the carton in their proper position at all times.

A more specific object of the invention is the provision of improved can chime engaging flanges or strips contoured to afford maximum contact with the chimes of the adjacent cans.

These and other objects of the invention will be apparent from an examination of the following description and drawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a complete package illustra-ting a set up carton embodying features of the invention, with the cans shown in position within the carton;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the blank from which the carton of FIGURE l is formed;

FIGURE 3 is a view similar to FIGURE l but Wi/th portions of the carton structure and cans removed in order to illustrate more clearly the relationship of the cans to the chime engaging strips of the carton;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary transverse vertical section taken on line 4 4 of FIGURE 3, illustrating the relationship of the chime engaging strips to the can chimes and bottom panels of the carton; and

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary horizontal sectional view taken on line 5 5 of FIGURE 4.

It will be understood that certain elements have been intentionally omitted from certain views where they are illustrated to better advantage in other views.

Referring now to the drawings for better understanding of the invention, and particularly to FIGURE l, it will be seen that the carton is of a tubular construction, open at opposite ends, and comprising a pair of parallel horizontal top and bottom walls interconnected by a pair of parallel vertical `side walls which define therewith a cavity that is generally rectangular in vertical cross section.

Although, throughout the description in the specification the horizontal walls will be referred rto as top and bottom walls, it is to be understood that the positions of these walls can be changed without affecting the basic teachings of the invention.

'I'he top wall comprises a hat generally rectangular panel 1), and the bottom wall comprises a pair of generally flat rectangular bottom panels 12, which when '3,010,573 Patented Nov. 28, 1961 Ice joined together in a manner hereinafter described areof substantially the same general area as the top wall panel 10. The side walls also are each formed of a generally flat rectangular side wall panel 14.

As best seen in FIGURES l, 3 and 4, the bottom wall panels 12 have upstanding from their adjacent inboard edges a pair of generally vertically disposed longitudinally extending inboard strips 16 which project inwardly toward the center ofthe carton substantially at right angles to the plane of the bottom wall of the carton. Hingedly connected to the inner edge of each inboard strip 16 is the inner edge of an outboard strip 18 which is folded back almost so as to project outboardly and outwardly toward the respective bottom wall panels.

As best seen in FIGURE 2, the carton can be formed from a single ilat sheet of suitable sheet material such as foldable paperboard. The blank may be cut and scored to provide the panels of the carton which have been previously described, with the top wall panel 10 being hingedly attached at its opposite edges along parallel score lines 22 to the respective side wall panels 14. Each of the side wall panels 14 are hingedly connected at their opposite edges along score Ilines 24 to the respective bottom wall panels 12. Hingedly connected to opposite edges of each of the respective bottom wall panels 12 along parallel score lines 26 are the respective strips 16 which, in turn, have hingedly connected to their other edges, along the curved score lines 28, the respective strips 18.

When the carton is in set up condition as seen in FIG- URE l the strips 16 of the respective bottom wall panels 12 vare disposed in full face abutting relationship with each other and preferably banded together by a layer of adhesive 30 interposed therebetween.

As, best seen in FIGURE 4, at their outer edges the outboard strips 18 present outwardly facing abutment surfaces 32 which are spaced inwardly from their related bottom wall panels a distance only slightly greater than the height of the can chimes. Thus, when the cans are in position, with the can chimes disposed between the bottom wall panels 12 and the abutment surfaces 32, the vertical movement of the cans relative to the bottom wall panels is prevented.

The essence of this invention resides in the provision of the curved score Alines 28 between the inboard and outboard strips of the respective panels 12. The eiect of the curved scoring is to cause the outboard strips 18 to bow out of parallel with their respective inboard strips 16.

The purpose of this is two-fold. First, the portions of the outboard strips which engage the cans exert a pressure on the cans at the places of engagement so as to increase the amount of contact between the strips and the cans; secondly, the pressure transmitted by the cans to the outboard strips at these places of engagement is trans mitted along the bowed strips to the inboard strips at places located between the first mentioned places of e11- gagement with the cans. Thus, the outboard strip tends to move back into parallel with its related inboard strip so as to cause a more equalized pressure thereagainst throughout the entire length of the carton and thereby insure contact between all portions of the adhesive coated surfaces of the inboard panels. This overcomes a problem of non-uniform contact between the adhesive coated areas which is sometimes caused by the bowing outward of the outboard strips at places located between the cans.

I claim:

An open ended, rectangular, sleeve-type carton formed of foldable paperboard and adapted to enclose two parallel rows of chimed cans in side-by-side relation, said carton comprising: one pair of walls lying adjacent and parallel to the ends of the cans; another pair of parallel Walls space d Vfrom each other and hingedly connected to the outboard edges of fthe walls of said one pair; one of the Walls of said one pair including a pair of co-planer panels extending inboardly from the respective walls .of

Y said other pair and having their inboard edges meeting substantially co-extensive with the length of the Walls of the carton; the inboard `strips of the respective panels being -adhesively secured to each other; the hinge lines between the inboard andpoutboard strips of each panel being curved to cause the outboard strips to bow out of parallel with their related Ainboard strips and thereby increase pressure on the adhesive surfaces of the inboard panels and also increase lthe contact areas between the outboard strip abutments and fthe adjacent can chimes; and means integral with the carton engageab-le with the cans for preventing them from accidentally moving longitudinally of the carton out of an open end of the carton.

No references cited. 

